That's Showbiz!
by WoNdY Alice
Summary: AU where Jade never went to Hollywood Arts. After graduating Hollywood Arts, the gang stars in a sitcom together. Jade West is hired as an addition to the cast, and she ends up having both on and off screen chemistry with Beck, who realizes he has feelings for her. The problem? Beck is dating his high school girlfriend Tori, and Jade is in dental that there is any chemistry at all.
1. Prologue

Alice: Guess which story won the poll? This one!

Emily: Well… duh.

Alice: Shut up. Anyway, this time I mean it when I say this will be my last Victorious story!

Emily: I figured I'd pick my last story to be the one that most people wanted, and this was it! It won by two votes!

Alice: Without further ado, here's the new story!

Emily: Just a warning, I loved _How I Met Your Mother_ , so there will be a lot of references to that show in this!

* * *

Title: That's Showbiz!

Summary: AU where Jade never went to Hollywood Arts. After graduating Hollywood Arts, the gang stars in a sitcom together. Jade West is hired as an addition to the cast, and she ends up having both on and off screen chemistry with Beck, who realizes he has feelings for her. The problem? Beck is dating his high school girlfriend Tori, and Jade is in dental that there is any chemistry at all.

Pairings: Beck x Jade. Beck x Tori.

 **Prologue**

Tori couldn't stop smiling. It was hard not to! After graduating from Hollywood Arts, she immediately got a leading role on a sitcom! Not to mention, all of her closet friends and her boyfriend were going to star on the same show! It was a dream come true, and she couldn't believe it. She was expecting to wake up at any moment and be back in her room at her parent's house. But no, this was real. It was actually real!

"You okay Tori?" Beck asked with amusement. Currently she was out eating lunch with all of her friends out of celebration for receiving the lead roles.

Tori nodded enthusiastically. "How could I not be? We're all starring in _How I Met Your Father_! Guys, we made it!"

Robbie frowned. "Um… didn't they say we'd probably only get one season in before it's cancelled? Guys, we should start looking at other jobs while we're doing this."

"Don't be pessimistic Robbie!" Tori glared at him before grinning. "We can do it, guys. We can make this show successful! We just need to try our best."

"That's the spirit," Beck grinned, throwing an arm around her and squeezing her shoulder. She smiled brightly at her boyfriend, wondering what she would do without him. They had met on her first day of class, and she accidentally spilled coffee on him. From then on, it was love at first sight. They started hanging out together, and he introduced her to his friend group. Eventually they started dating, and they have been dating every since.

High school sweethearts! It was adorable!

Cat giggled, "This is going to be so much fun!"

"See?" Tori beamed. "We can do this!"

"Hey I hate to break up the love here," Andre countered, "but our lunch break ends soon, and the director said he had something to tell us after, so…"

Tori nodded. "You're right. We don't want to be late on our first official day!"

"Not really official… filming still doesn't start for another two months, Tori."

"Don't be such a pessimist Robbie!"

The gang hurriedly threw out their food and started walking back to the studio. While they were all excited to start, there was a small part of them that was nervous. They knew the show was predicted to be cancelled after the first season, and they knew they would have to work their asses off for it to be even a little good. Still, they wanted to keep this amazing job with their friends, and they were willing to work hard.

Once they arrived at the set, the director smiled and waved them over. "Everyone I have an announcement," he said. "Originally we were going to have five main characters, but we've decided we want to add one more girl to make the gender ratio even. We'll send out edited versions of the script to you, so just memorize those until then."

The gang blinked in surprise. "Okay," Tori shrugged. Another girl meant another friend to her! She smiled, "Who's going to play the new role?"

"Me."

Everyone turned around and blinked at the girl. With dark makeup and black attire, she didn't friendly. In fact, she looked downright terrifying. Her pale arms were crossed, and she was smirking at them as if she were somehow above them. "Oh hi!" Tori tried to sound friendly. "Who are you?"

"Jade West."

* * *

Alice: I know the first chapter is really short, but they'll get a lot longer after this one.

Emily: The next chapter will have a huge time skip to after the first season, and that's when the real plot will start.

Alice: Don't worry! This is a Bade story! Bori will not be the endgame!

Emily: Anyways, enjoy the story! Let me know what you think!


	2. The Chapter with the Interview

Alice: Here's the next chapter with a lot more plot and context!

Emily: There's a time skip, but everything that's happened since the prologue is explained.

Alice: Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Emily: Just letting you know, I'm going to put a lot of sitcom (or TV in general) references in this story, and not all of them are _How I Met Your Mother_ related!

Alice: For example, the chapter titles ;)

* * *

 **The Chapter with the Interview**

"Hello everyone!" The woman smiled brightly at the camera. "I'm here today with the cast _How I Met Your Father_! How are you all doing?"

Beck smiled brightly as the camera panned over to him and his friends. When they received the news that Helen from _The Helen Show_ wanted to interview them, they were ecstatic. Even Jade had smiled and hugged their friends as a result, and she rarely allowed bodily contact. It truly symbolized how far they had come from filming the pilot.

Tori was the first to answer. "Amazing!"

"Really glad to be here," Andre spoke up.

As the rest of the cast said the same lines, Helen grinned. "I'm glad you're all here. I mean, you're all so talented! After only one season, _How I Met Your Father_ has become one of the biggest hits on television! How do you guys feel about that?"

Beck took the liberty of answering that question, "Great," he smiled. "We were actually told after we finished filming the pilot that this show would only last one season. We figured we'd make that one season count, and I guess it really showed during filming. We really didn't expect this much love and support for the show, and for that, we're really grateful."

At his words, the audience started cheering, and he sent them one of his "pretty grins" as Jade liked to call them. She snorted and mumbled under her breath, "Show off."

Beck turned to her and grinned, nudging her a bit at her words. Tori, who was on his left, noticed and rolled her eyes playfully at her boyfriend's actions.

"Well now you have more than one season," Helen commented once the applause died down. "I heard you've all been confirmed for a second season and filming should start next week?"

"It does," Robbie nodded. "We're really excited about it. We all love working together."

Helen smiled. "Yes, I've heard that all of you were really good friends in high school, right?"

"Well we were," Cat giggled, gesturing to everyone but Jade. "We were friends all four years of high school, and we auditioned for the show together. Jade was added on at the last minute, but she's really become part of the gang."

Jade smirked. "I better have."

Beck couldn't resist. "Yeah that'd be awkward if we told you right now that we actually don't think you fit in."

The audience laughed, and Jade raised an eyebrow. "I think that'd ruin the interview."

"And it'd hurt your feelings."

"I don't have feelings," Jade jokingly said.

Tori cut in before Beck could comment, "It's true. She's scary like that!"

The audience and the cast laughed at the joke, and Helen waited for it to be quiet. "So I was wondering if we could get a little sneak peak at what your characters are going to go through?"

Their producer already said they could answer this question, so they took turns answering but being vague.

Tori spoke first, "Well in the first season, we see my character Tedra mature from someone who only wants to party to someone who wants to actually settle down and get married. This season explores how that decision has changed her and her relationships with other people. We definitely go into more depth on what she's looking for and what she's scared of, and I'm really looking forward to it."

After the audience finished clapping at her statement, Beck spoke up, "My character, Banner, is the exact opposite. He loves one-night stands and doesn't really care about anyone other than his friends. Even then, he pretends he doesn't care. This season really dives into how he thinks he's uncaring but it's all really just a front. As an actor, it's really interesting to see some depth from him, and I think it'll be a lot of fun."

Jade went next, "My character, Robyn, left off as fiercely independent. She refuses to acknowledge she could have deep, romantic feelings for anyone, and she's constantly pushing everyone away. This season we'll see how she reacts when someone tries pushing back and how that will affect her."

As the rest of the group continued, Beck stole a glance at Jade. Fitting how her character was much like her in person. When he first met Jade, he didn't have the best first impression. She had actually looked him and down before commenting to Tori what a hot boy she managed to snag. He wasn't sure if it was meant to be flirtatious at him or an insult to Tori, but he didn't like her from then on. At least until they started filming together. Due to her character's last minute write in, Jade had to improvise a lot of her character's dialogue, and she was actually hilarious.

Eventually the group started accepting her as one of their own, and they grew to love her.

Or in Beck's case, fall in love with her.

"Alright! One more question," Helen brightly grinned. "When I announced that I was interviewing you guys, a ton of people on Twitter asked me to ask you guys something specifically. Do you mind?"

"Not at all!" Tori beamed.

"Well have any of you heard of Babyn?"

The cast tried to prevent themselves from outright staring at Beck and Jade. Yes, they all knew what Babyn was. It was Banner and Robyn together. Beck sighed. Everyone thought there was chemistry between Banner and Robyn. Some would even argue between Beck and Jade as individuals. He would be lying if he said he didn't agree, but he hated it when people brought it up in front of Tori.

"Yes," Cat giggled. "We all have!"

Helen smiled. "Is there any truth to the rumors that they're getting together this season?"

Jade immediately shook her head. "Sorry guys," she smiled at the camera, but Beck could tell there was an underlying anger in her tone. "There's no romance between Banner and Robyn. They're good friends, and the season is definitely going to explore their friendship, but they won't get together."

The audience all went "aw" in disappointment at her words.

Tori forced a grin. "Well you never know! They might get together in the future, but for now they're just friends."

Beck frowned. Was Tori implying something with her words? Or was she just trying to please the fans?

Helen gasped. "That's right! You're dating Beck, aren't you?"

Instantly Beck and Tori held each other's hands and lifted them so the audience could see. "High school sweethearts," Beck grinned.

"That's so cute," the interviewer smiled sweetly. "Sorry if the question made you uncomfortable!"

"Oh not at all!" Tori reassured. "I mean, I've had to pretend to date a lot of boys on the show, so it wouldn't be any difference if Beck had to do the same. It's acting, after all."

"You heard it here, folks!" Helen turned to the camera. "I wish you guys all luck with filming the second season! Next time…"

As she continued, Beck leaned in to Tori's ear and whispered, "Sorry about that, sweetie."

Tori shook her head and smiled back. "It's not your fault. Even I can see the chemistry between Banner and Robyn. The characters are just so similar and different that you can't help but see it!"

"Yeah, like you and me." Beck grinned.

Tori giggled. "Yeah, like you and me."

* * *

The cast all agreed to grab dinner after the interview. Ever since they started filming together, they went to a sushi place called Nozu. When they became famous, the owners of the store had to create a special section for them to make sure fans didn't bother them. While they loved their fans, they still wanted some privacy every now and then.

That's where they currently were. Sitting at their private table upstairs eating sushi together. "How great was that interview guys!" Robbie beamed. "We totally got it!"

"I'm starting to get annoyed with all these questions about Babyn," Andre spoke up. "I mean, I get that people love couples and all, but can't we go one interview without hearing about it?"

"At least they didn't bring up Bade," Robbie laughed.

Tori's eyebrows furrowed, and Beck inwardly groaned. He'd been purposefully hiding that term from his girlfriend. "What's Bade?" She asked.

"Beck and Jade," Cat gleefully brought her hands together. "For them to get together."

"It's stupid," Jade commented, rolling her eyes at the term. "People just want a scandal. High school sweethearts break up for another cast member! It's all a publicity stunt."

"But why is it you?" Cat asked curiously.

Jade shrugged, "Because Beck and I have the most scenes together out of all of us."

It was true. Their characters were known for having competitions on how many people they could successfully flirt with or bring home. Since Banner and Robyn were emotionally (and romantically) stunted and were known as the "players" of the group, they rolled off each other well. Although Banner was more of a player than Robyn, she still had her many moments.

"That's true," Cat beamed. "But Robbie and I have as many as you guys!"

"Because you guys are the only stable couple on the show," Andre pointed out.

Robbie pouted, "How come no one wants us together?"

"Cause you are together," Beck explained. "It's the potential to get together that drives people crazy. It's probably why people like Bade more than Bori."

"Okay I'm guessing Bori is you and me," Tori stated.

Jade rolled her eyes. "No, it's a broom and you. Yes! What else would it be?"

"That's hurtful," Tori mockingly glared at her.

"Either way," Beck cut in. He knew how the two girls could get. While they've become much friendlier than in the past, they were still known to have multiple arguments with each other. "It's all in the fans' heads. Now let's change the subject."

"Thank you," Jade mumbled as she bit into her sushi.

Beck frowned at the statement but said nothing about it. Whenever Babyn was brought up, Jade denied it's existence with all of her energy. It made him wonder if she was talking about him. He sighed, trying not to think of it, and glanced at his girlfriend.

She was beautiful and sweet and amazing and talented and everything a guy could want in a girl. When they first met, he truly thought he fell in love with her. They've been dating for almost two years now! Yet for some reason, his feelings for Jade managed to surpass those of his girlfriend. He kept trying to tell himself they would go away after a while. After all, two years couldn't compete.

And it couldn't. The problem was it wasn't winning.

It was frustrating.

What if his feelings for Jade were only because she was the forbidden? What if they were all based on her character and not her? No, that wasn't true. She basically was her character. Still, how could he know if his feelings were real or not? What if he broke up with Tori for Jade and realized his true feelings were for Tori all along? After all, it's not like he didn't have any feelings for Tori. A two year relationship guaranteed some form of love.

He just wasn't sure if it was romantic anymore.

It frustrated him to no end, and he just wanted it all to be simple again!

"Beck!"

Beck sharply turned around. Jade gave him a "what the heck are you doing" look, and he sheepishly smiled. "Sorry," he answered, looking around at the people at the table, who were all staring at him. "I got lost in my thoughts about a beautiful woman."

Tori grinned, "Aww!" She squeezed his arm and leaned in for a semi-hug.

 _It wasn't about you though…._

He really was in trouble.

* * *

Alice: Thanks for reading!

Emily: I hope you liked it!

Alice: Enjoy your weekend!


	3. The One with the Edited Script

Alice: New chapter!

Emily: Sorry for the long wait, but school has been crazy, so I won't be able to update as often as I would like.

Alice: Anyways, here's the next chapter! I hope you all like it!

Emily: Just a warning, a lot of things that happen in this story won't correlate with how shows are really run. Why? Because I know next to nothing about how sitcoms are filmed, so I'm making stuff up!

Alice: Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

 **The One with the Edited Script**

When the director called the cast in for a meeting, they weren't that surprised. It was a couple days before filming was about to start, and they figured he had called them in to spring last minute information on them. After all, he did the same thing with the first season when he introduced an entirely new character to the script. "Hey guys!" He grinned when he saw all of them.

"Hi," Tori smiled politely. "What's going on? I thought filming wasn't supposed to start for a couple days."

The director smiled apologetically at them. "About that…" He said. "We've made a few changes to the script."

Again. "I'm guessing we have to improvise a lot of our scenes again?" Beck gave the director his best smile, trying not to appear frustrated. While last year was fun with the amount of improvising they did, it was still a little annoying as an actor to have an unreliable script.

"Sorry guys, but we figured you did so well last year, you can do it again," the director beamed happily.

"So what are the changed?" Jade practically demanded, glaring at the director. Out of the entire cast, she was the only one who appeared outwardly annoyed at the sudden change.

"Well… Banner and Robyn are going to get together this season," he confessed, and the cast was quiet for a moment. Tori raised her eyebrows, and Cat burst out into little giggles. Andre rolled his eyes out of annoyance, and Robbie just slowly backed away from Jade, who looked like she was about to explode. Her very pale face flushed a deep red, and her fists were clenched. Beck wondered if her palms hurt from the way her nails were digging into them.

"No." She stated through gritted teeth.

The director shook his head. "Sorry Jade, but the fans are demanding it, and it makes sense. I mean, if Beck wasn't dating Tori, I'd think you two liked each other! Let's face it, the chemistry is there, so we need to market on it."

Beck was happy he was such a good actor, or he would have blushed at that final statement. Although he supposed he wasn't the best at faking it… after all, if he was really in love with Tori, he would have immediately looked at her to see how she reacted to the last comment, and he would have tried to nonverbally assure her that it wasn't true. Instead he immediately looked at Jade and tried to get her to look at him.

"I said no!" She spat out, refusing to look at Beck. "That's so stupid! We can't just do whatever the fans want! It'll ruin the show. It's so out of character too! I mean, Robyn's independent and doesn't do love, so why would her character just randomly fall in love with Banner like that? That would never happen in real life!"

Beck tried not to flinch at the last statement.

The director backed away, intimidated by the angry woman. "Listen this wasn't my decision, but it's a good decision. Jade, you—"

"No!" Jade practically shouted, and the cast started backing away from her. Well all except for one member.

"Okay," Beck turned to her, "you need to calm down."

"What?" She whipped around to him, her angry face close to his own. "You're not upset about this?!"

"I'm an actor, so I'm paid to do whatever they want," Beck shrugged. In all honesty, he was quite nervous and excited with this new development. It was the perfect way of testing whether or not his love for Jade was real or fabricated. As Jade began screaming more profanities, Beck sighed and glanced at Tori, who shakily nodded her head. Beck smiled at her before turning to Jade and literally hoisting her up and throwing her over his shoulder.

"BECK!" She screamed, but Beck didn't care. He carried her out of the studio as she kicked and screamed, uncaring of anyone who was watching them.

Once they were outside of the studio, he put her down and instantly prepared himself for the punch in his gut. He gasped as the wind was knocked out of him, but he was used to it at this point. If anything, Jade's hits have become softer. Maybe she didn't want to hurt him anymore? Either way, he knew the drill by now. "You need to calm down," he instructed.

Jade shook her head. "I don't get it," she growled. "Why can't Robyn just not date anyone? Why does she need to be a romantic interest to be interesting? That's so stupid!"

Beck shrugged. "A large percentage of the people who watch this show are girls, and they love romance. You have to admit Robyn and Banner are a good couple."

"We're not a good couple!" Jade glared at him.

"I didn't say we were. We're not Robyn and Banner," he replied calmly although he disagreed with the statement. "If I thought we were a good couple, I'd be dating you and not Tori."

That seemed to calm Jade down a little, and she sighed. "I just don't want to be anyone's love interest."

"Why not?" he asked curiously. "It doesn't hurt anyone. It might give some people hope that love is out there for anyone."

Jade shook her head. "Not for me," she mumbled before nodding her head. "Fine, I'll play your stupid love interest, but don't expect me to change Robyn's character for it!"

Beck smiled softly. "I would never ask for that. Robyn's great the way she is."

Jade must have sensed that double meaning. She frowned at him in discontent before abruptly looking away from him. "Let's go back inside," she grumbled.

"Should I carry you again?"

"Never carry me ever again."

"You sure? It was kind of fun."

"Yeah like punching you," she mockingly glared at him. "That was really fun. I could do it again, if you want?"

Beck burst out laughing.

* * *

The director was ecstatic when he heard Jade would be willing to do the romance. He warned them that a lot of the scenes with them together would have to be improvised, but they were already prepared for that. At some of the director's comments, Jade looked like she was ready to explode again, but Beck quickly placed a hand on her shoulder to pacify her. It always worked, and he could literally feel her taking a deep breath to calm herself down whenever he did that. It made him inwardly smile that only he could calm her down like that.

Once the meeting was over, Jade quickly rushed off of the set with Cat following behind her. Beck and Tori agreed to go on a date after the meeting, so they ended up saying goodbye to Andre and Robbie before heading out to a fancy restaurant.

Overall, the date was fine. Not exactly fun in Beck's eyes, but it was okay. Part of him wondered if he just lost interests in the dates or if he always felt they were kind of boring but never realized it until now. Either way, he was paying the check as Tori was talking about something happening with her friend. Beck was only half paying attention when Tori suddenly changed the subject, "It was nice of you to calm Jade down again."

Beck nodded, not knowing where she was taking this conversation. "Someone has to, or she'll make someone wet themselves."

"Too late for that," Tori smiled. "I think Robbie's already done that because of her."

Beck chuckled. "Probably."

Tori stared at him curiously. "How come you're not scared of her?"

"What do you mean?"

"When we first met her, she was terrifying," Tori explained. "I mean, I stood up to her, but I was still terrified whenever she was actually angry. Everyone else was the same way, but not you. Ever time she got angry you made her calm down. We've actually just relied on you to deal with that. Even after we've gotten to know her and are really good friends with her, we are still scared! I'm just wondering why you were never scared of her, even in the beginning."

Beck sighed, "I have no idea. I just never saw anything scary about her."

It wasn't the best answer, but Tori nodded in understanding anyway. "Well thank goodness you're not," she smiled. "Otherwise we would be in a lot of trouble!"

Beck smiled, trying not to expose any of the nervousness he felt inside. "Yeah, thank goodness for that."

He really didn't think he could keep his feelings a secret for much longer.

* * *

Alice: Thanks for reading!

Emily: What did you guys think of the chapter?

Alice: A lot of the beginning is a little slow, but once a specific thing happens, it'll pick up.

Emily: What specific thing you ask? Well you'll have to keep reading to see!

Alice: Once again, thanks for reading!


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